Music City, Motoring, and Many Waterfalls

It's time for yet another photo spread. This time, it's from Tennessee, Kentucky, and a bit of North Carolina. Specifically, we're talking about Nashville, Mammoth Caves National Park, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and a few other famous spots, including The Hermitage and the Polk home. 

The Parthenon, which was a temporary structure as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. It was such a hit, that the effort was made to make it a permanent structure, which was completed in 1931.

A rain soaked Parthenon

Mammoth Caves - the historical entrance tour. We missed out on seeing more of the cave system because we didn't make reservations ahead of time. We'll know better next time. 

One of the many bears spotted during our trip through the Smoky Mountains.

There were countless waterfalls along the way. This is one.

Want to cross the Green River in Mammoth Caves National Park? Take a ferry. 

Grotto Falls, in Smoky Mountains NP

At the President James Polk home in Columbia, TN.

Nashville at night.

The Ernest Tubb Record Shop, home to one of the most famous radio shows in country music. Imagine the history told, the music strummed in those walls.

The Kitchen Sinks at Great Smoky Mountains NP.

Yet another waterfall in Great Smoky Mountains NP.

Outside the Nashville Symphony.

One of the many neon signs along the Honky Tonk Row in Nashville.

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At the summit of Clingmans Dome.

A natural bridge.

Broadway after a rain soaked night in Nashville.

Tennessee Moves One Step Closer To Introducing Creationism In Classrooms

It's one thing to propose creationism in a religion class or comparative sociology classroom.

It's quite another to put it in a science classroom as an alternative to evolution.

The two aren't comparative. Evolution is science-based, while creationism is based on religion, and a leap of faith is required.

Yet, Tennessee has moved one step closer to allowing creationist indoctrination of students in science classrooms.

Tennessee's Republican-dominated House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a bill that would protect teachers who want to challenge the theory of human evolution.

Thursday's 70-28 passage of HB 368 was hailed by sponsor Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, who said the proposal was designed to promote "critical thinking" in science classes.

That's one way of seeing it. However, the Tennessee Science Teachers Association is on record describing the bill as "unnecessary, anti-scientific, and very likely unconstitutional." Although the document is worded so as not to promote any particular doctrine, the thrust of the proposed law would elevate creationist theories about human evolution to the same status accorded by most educators to Darwin's research.

This isn't about critical thinking. It's about using religious concepts to pollute the waters of science. The harm being done by advancing this in the classrooms is antithetical to educating students and preparing them for the future. The text of the bill can be found here, and the sections in question are as follows:

(d) Neither the state board of education, nor any public elementary or secondary school governing authority, director of schools, school system administrator, or any public elementary or secondary school principal or administrator shall prohibit any teacher in a public school system of this state from helping students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught.

(e) This section only protects the teaching of scientific information, and shall not
be construed to promote any religious or non-religious doctrine, promote discrimination for or against a particular set of religious beliefs or non-beliefs, or promote discrimination for or against religion or non-religion.

Subsection (d) would appear to give wide latitude to teachers, and enable them to attempt to use intelligent design or other such couched terms to discuss and/or undermine the teaching of evolution in classrooms, while (e) appears to be an attempt to prevent it from being construed as an attempt to push creationism or other religious-based arguments against evolution.

The problem is that (d) gives teachers wide latitude in how to present evolution and enables teachers to propose intelligent design or outright creationism as ways to discredit or disprove evolution.

In fact, creationism goes against the kind of critical thinking necessary to compete in a global economy. When you push religious concepts into the realm of science, you're substituting faith for the scientific process. The scientific process, which relies on testable theories is critical to advancing science and technology, including in biology and medicine. Creationism undermines the ability to compete on those fertile economic sectors - sectors that are critical to the future American economy.

The Dead Keep on Voting

The nexus for the Army of Darkness (aka the legion of dead voters)? Ohio, of course.

Among the thousands of graves at Highland Park Cemetery, one modest tombstone stands out.

Alex Holmes Sr. has been at rest in that cemetery for 15 years. But recent election records show he cast a ballot in this year's primary.

And our 5 On Your Side investigation found a home on Cleveland's east side listed as Holmes' address.

Jeremy Moore, Holmes' grandson, was stunned.

"He's deceased. Deceased since 1993," Moore said.

And it doesn't appear to be a name mix-up.

Records reveal Alex Holmes Jr. -- who is still alive -- voted in the same election as his deceased father.

Cuyahoga County Elections Director Jane Platten said she'll look in to it.

"Without having full detail, I have no idea why that would have happened," Platten said.

Oh, I have a real good idea. The board of elections at the state and local levels around the country aren't doing their job of clearing the voter rolls of deceased voters, felons, and others who are ineligible to cast ballots.

The Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has done a disastrous job of handling the state elections and doesn't think it important to ensure that the voter rolls are accurate and culled of deceased voters. She issued a directive to Boards of Elections across the state to withhold dates of births in public records requests. That information is important in positively identifying dead voters. Instead, we get a situation where the dead vote. Often.

Thousands of dead voters remain on voter rolls in Memphis, and there are actual signs that at least 12 votes were cast by the dearly departed, though the efforts to clear the rolls have uncovered far more serious problems, including multiple registrations.

The names of Deaton and the others appeared despite reforms undertaken following a 2005 special state Senate election in which corrupt Memphis poll workers used the identities of dead voters to sway the outcome of an especially tight race. The reforms were aimed at ensuring deceased individuals are removed from voter rolls.

Yet inadequate purging of dead voters isn't the only concern facing the county's bulging, 645,000-name voter roll. A computer analysis by The Commercial Appeal and Scripps Howard News Service also found:

As many as 1,681 voters appeared to have more than one registration on file with the Shelby County Election Commission. Such dual registrations create the potential for fraud. Records show a handful of voters may have as many as three registrations on file.

Electronic records hint that as many as 12 dead people voted in the 2004 general election, although that finding is believed to involve clerical errors and not actual fraud.

The dead vote far more often than the New York Times or Washington Post would ever care to admit (and even then, they'll refuse to call it fraud. And every one of these votes undermines the legitimate votes cast in those districts because it effectively nullifies a legitimate vote.

How many of these deceased votes have been cast this year? Far more than ever should be allowed, and in a close election and in certain districts, it could be a decisive vote.

Not Quite the Party of Tolerance

There's a most ugly primary campaign underway in Tennessee involving Democrat incumbent Steven Cohen and Nikki Tinker. Cohen is Jewish. Tinker is black and apparently has no problem with someone passing around anti-Semitic fliers that state that Cohen and the Jews hate Jesus:

Cohen's main opponent in the August 5 Democratic primary in his predominantly African-American district is Nikki Tinker, who is black. The Commercial Appeal wrote an editorial in Wednesday's paper condemning Tinker for not speaking out against the anti-Semitic literature.

"What does Nikki Tinker think about anti-Semitic literature being circulated that might help her unseat 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen in the Democratic primary next August?" the editorial asked. "The question goes to the character of the woman who wants to represent the 9th District, and 9th District voters deserve an answer. But Tinker declined to return a phone call about the flier."

The editorial also noted that last summer Cohen came under attack from black ministers who challenged the congressman's support for federal hate crimes legislation to protect gay rights. The paper wrote that the "real motive" behind the ministers' attacks was revealed later by Rev. Robert Poindexter who, according to the Commercial Appeal, said of Cohen: "He's not black and he can't represent me, that's just the bottom line."

The Democrats have serious problems here. A group of them is purposefully running racist and anti-Semitic fliers to unseat a fellow Democrat. They're hoping that the largely African-American district will be swayed in favor of Tinker over Cohen.

UPDATE:
Captain Ed weighs in and wonders where all the critics are who complained about Huckabee's comments on religion to speak out against this. He also thinks that these tactics are now the norm after seeing how the top of the party has been using them without question.

Others blogging: Rhymes with Right and Redstate, who reminds folks that Cohen made news last year by attempting to join the Congressional Black Caucus because he represents a majority African American district, but the Caucus refused him entry.